I'm shaken from my dream as the lights of the Center flicker on. Squinting at the bunk above me, I press my hands to my face and can only think about how I want more sleep. I'd been having a dream about the simple comfort of holding hands with someone. I was walking on the shoreline of Sandgem with Riley. He was walking in front of me, not looking at me, but we were talking. And we were holding hands. I rolled my eyes at the bunk above me. I just needed to accept that things change and people change.

I hate change.

I turn to look at my Happiny. She's curled up in the bed next to me, hugging her little white rock. Although everyone hates me for it, I call her Baby. People don't seem to think that Baby is a legitimate name for a baby Pokemon. I just laugh when someone gives me a look for calling her that. I don't call her it because I'm too lazy to give her a real name. She's called Baby because Bryce really hated, hated this annoying song "Baby", but it would always be stuck in his head. He'd sing it all the time. Whenever we would hang out in the grass in front of town he would sing it to a passing Ditto.

As for Baby, we found her together. She was in the tall grass, and barely alive. She had obviously been attacked by some larger, stronger Pokemon. She was tiny, weak, and apparently newly hatched. It was likely that she had either been abandoned or had been separated from her mother somehow. As we went to the Pokemon Center back in Canalave, Bryce was humming "Baby", but slowly and with a bittersweet tone. And so she got her name. My Baby.

I miss Bryce. I miss him so much. Before my family moved to Twinleaf, we lived in Canalave. It was the most beautiful place I could imagine. It's where I grew up. I loved living with the ports, the boats, the salty air, and the library. Bryce and I would go read books about Pokemon in the morning, and in the afternoon we would play with Wingulls out by the boats. Sometimes we'd go fishing. Maybe his dad would take us out on his own ship for a few minutes, and we'd visit Iron Island. We had the best time together. It was like that for my entire life. Then we turned fifteen.

Bryce's family and my family were all really close. Bryce and I were going to start travelling together since we were now old enough for our parents to trust us to leave home. We were going to see all of Sinnoh. We found Baby, and then something started happening. There were strange occurrences around town. The old Harbor Inn, abandoned for years, was lighting up at night. And not like electric lighting. It was eerily glowing. No one wanted to investigate because everyone figured it was haunted somehow. A curfew got set up. We all had to be in our houses by seven at night.

Bryce went to sleep one night and the next morning he wouldn't wake up. He wasn't dead; he was in a coma-like state. And he was apparently having nightmare, after nightmare, after nightmare. Endless. Shouting for help, but he was asleep, and couldn't wake up. His mom tried to wake him countless times. The screams were haunting her. She stayed inside all day, tending to Bryce and fearing for him.

The last time I saw Bryce's dad, he took me and Baby out to Iron Island with one of the other guys from town, Riley. Baby was still sickly, and I wouldn't let her leave my side, especially with what was happening. I'd never really talked to Riley before. At eighteen, Riley was almost three years older than Bryce and I. He was tall with black hair, and he always wore a blazer with a hat. Riley's younger brother had also had the nightmares. His brother, by some miracle, had woken up. I was ridden with guilt over what was happening to Bryce, and no matter how much mine or Bryce's parents would try to comfort me, I'd never be able to forget visiting Bryce and witnessing a screaming episode. Or his mother breaking down in tears as she patted his forehead with a cool cloth. Riley tried to comfort me about Bryce. Riley told us that in time, Bryce would wake up, too. How could he know if that was true? But that's what he told me and Mr. Hunter. And we chose to believe him.

Riley spent more and more time with me. Riley helped me heal Baby. He helped me heal myself, though even feeling better about life I couldn't forget about Bryce. Riley helped my family when we moved to Twinleaf. Riley and I went to Sandgem one night and we were together until the sun came up.

And Riley went back to Iron Island, and he didn't return. I knew I couldn't stay with my family anymore. I needed to get out.

So here I am, in the Pokemon Center in Sandgem Town, squinting at the bright lights and hoping that everything will turn out how it's supposed to be. How I want it to be. I decide to stay in bed for five more minutes.